Sound Off: Ridley Scott's New Sci-Fi 'Prometheus' - Your Thoughts?

Now that you've seen it, what did you think?"The search for our beginning could lead to our end."Ridley Scott, the master of sci-fi, has returned to the genre to deliver us a big, bold, beautiful space thriller all over again. Prometheus arrives in theaters in 3D/IMAX this weekend (in the US), featuring a cast lead by Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Logan Marshall-Green and Idris Elba. So is it the long-rumored Alien prequel? How is this new sci-fi thriller, just as good? Does it leave you with too many unanswered questions? Once you've seen it, post a comment below with your own thoughts on Prometheus.

Spoiler Warning:We strongly urge everyone to actually see the film before reading ahead, as there may be spoilers below. We also encourage all commenters to keep major spoilers from the film to a minimum, if possible. However, this is an open discussion from this point on! Beware of spoilers, don't ruin this film!

To fuel Prometheus' fire on this one, I've seen Prometheus twice already (in 3D), and I still love it. It's a visually breathtaking, spectacularly envisioned, big, fascinating science fiction futuristic adventure in the depths of space. Sure, it creates more questions than it answers, and I'm sure that's due to Damon Lindelof's contribution, but at the same time I love it for what it is. It presents interesting ideas, ideas to think about and discuss for days after seeing it. It's a movie with layers, and depths, to every character and the story itself. Michael Fassbender as David is utterly fantastic, and there's a lot more to him than is on the surface, that's for sure. At the very least, I love what Ridley has created and delivered, a beautiful sci-fi on this scale.

Sure, it's easy to argue about the story and how straightforward it is, taking off (literally) before answering most of the important questions. But I just love what Ridley does give us in this anyway. There are some amazing moments, between the storm made up of pieces of metal, to that crazy c-section Dr. Shaw gives herself, Fassbender's devious plan and why it's so important, the final showdown and big crash/explosion, the two of them running to escape it. Hell, I didn't even care about Weyland, he was the least interesting part about it. I was much more fascinated by Noomi's character and Fassbender investigating the Engineer's true intentions (and if he was lying). I love that it makes us think and discuss these theories even further.

What did you think of Prometheus? Ridley Scott back at his best, or complete space disaster?We will remove any comments that indicate you have not seen the movie, as this area is meant to discuss the film only once you have seen it and can talk about your thoughts. Please keep the comments civilized!

Disappointed. Not enough story development and character development. Also not enough "scary" moments either. This movie just feels empty. lacking substance. And I really wanted to like it. Uhggg. A lot of plotholes and/or what seems like missing scenes or bad editing. uhggg

JB

same

Thomas

you are advised to watch american pie movies dumb ass

Typath

It was his opinion dude chill a little. And you know what I will go watch American Pie, right after you get your d1#$ out of the pie.

Scopedog

It's their opinions, that's all.
Me, I liked the film. True, it isn't perfect, but I felt I got my money's worth and I didn't spot any plotholes.
But I don't expect everyone to like it.

Dear Mr Scott,
I just
saw your latest visual extravaganza, otherwise known as Prometheus, and
have to say that I was somewhat blown away. Good job.
However, I have one minor bone to pick over the concept of 'continuity'.
If you are going to make a prequel, shouldn't it end the way the next
in the series begins? I mean, does "Space Jockey IN the CHAIR with his
chest popped open" ring any bells?
Hmmmm?
Yours sincerely,
Eggo.

inappropriate_response

This is the first of three movies before we get to alien. Remember this was a completely different planet.

You like a lot of people missed a couple of crucial details. Prometheus takes place on LV 262. Alien takes place on LV 426. Same system and host planet, different moons. There are more ships on LV 262 David indicated there were several. It leaves me to beleive that the Alien lifeform, makes it onboard one of those other ships. I am certain it found another jockey on board. Perhaps causing him to crash on LV 426. Finally it catches him and implants its egg inside, gestated and that life form once it burst from the Jockeys chest in the chair, is the Alien we all know and love and then goes onto to lay all the eggs in the cargo hold. That the crew of the Nostromo later finds.

Jcs012872

it is not a true prequel by this simple little note! The planet is LV 226 is where Prometheus is, the Alien Planet is LV 426 Two different stories all together!

Got to call you wrong there. It is a prequel. The events of this lead to the next. Your also ruling out a sequel...

tsode

I can't believe people are still asking questions like this.
How hard is it to understand that the planet wasn't the same as the one in Alien, and therefore Prometheus ISN'T a direct prequel whose events are required to end where the events of Alien begin? How many thousands of times does it need to be written all over the internet, and how many dozen times does Ridley need to repeat himself?

Ridley stated its not a 'true' prequel but a loose one as part of his plan for chronicling numerous accounts of different groups of people encountering an extinct species and what they have left behind...

Bullshit.... I want a link. I just read four articles where he himself called it a prequel including 2 videos.What are we in grade school spelling boy? Grow up.

touche

Actually, he said it occurs in the same universe and has some Alien DNA... I have never seen him refer to it as a prequel

Thekentuckyshine

In the first Alien movie, the crew of the Nostromo receive a transmission coming from the crashed alien ship which leads them to the planet. When they go in to investigate, they find the remains of the "space jockey in the chair with his chest popped open."...I had to watch it after I saw Prometheus just to jog my memory. Sure enough, whether it's the same planet or not, Alien basically starts where Prometheus left off.

Honestly,I saw Prometheus last night and I was a pretty disappointed. I was hoping for more of a suspenseful thriller (a la Alien and Aliens), but I got a poorly paced action flick (a la Alien Resurrection). The cinematography, score, and special effects are amazing, but awkward dialog and plot holes abound. Overall, the whole thing just felt like an elaborate setup for a sequel instead of a standalone movie. If you like Alien, go see it for the fan service. Otherwise, wait for Netflix

Agree with you two guys. Movie was hollow ans sometimes non sense. You don't do great movie with only great actors and great special effects, you need a great story line first of all.

touche

I have no idea what could have been "nonsense" except maybe the one scientist being overly friendly with a foreign species... and then getting lost. All the pieces to the puzzle are there, you just have to look for them... Scott makes a lot films that many would consider big budget art house films. It's not of the spoon fed variety - and that's not meant as a jab at anyone.

Nithin

I watched Prometheus this morning. I got to say it was a
wonderful sci-fi movie which kept me intrigued for the entire duration
of it. Fassbender was fantastic as David. I think this one was setup
very well in the Alien universe. At one point i felt it was directly
related to Alien during the climax but it didn't, no complaints there.
The script was also good and nothing like what a lot of people were
describing as a let down. I loved it throughly enjoyed it. I hope they follow Shaw's journey in a sequel.

Jericho

yeah i personally haven't seen it yet but a good friend of mine has, he originally complained of plot holes then i brought up it was a loose prequel to Alien...then it was like God spoke to him because he spend the rest of the praising it.......

Jericho

ok i saw it and i absolutely loved it *PROTO-XENO FTW* but it still left me a little wanting since the question i wanted have yet to be answered *were humans REALLY just made for testbedding Xenos?* but i hope this will be settled in the next movie.....

Scopedog

Fassbender was amazing. I also liked Noomi Rapace and Idris Elba as well. The film looked fantastic--IMAX really does help--and I wasn't bored at all. Interested to see what a sequel could bring.

Buzzfunk

As I have posted in the review section, I loved it. It's good but not great. Can I remind everyone that opinions are indeed like assholes...
Personally, I do not understand why someone like Ridley would work with Damon Lindhoff, who is absolutely one of the worst writers of this generation. Lost? Aliens vs Cowboys? All terrible.
Prometheus as whole, delivers some grand ideas. I loved the Engineers. The design was flawless. Loved the nods to the Original Alien. The Effect were also flawless. Nothing looked cheap. I thought Fassbender and Rapace did a good job. Some plot holes however really bother me. And someone please help me here:
- the two Scientists that got scared. They leave. When we see the rest of the team go outside, we see the main truck leave. Yet, during the storm, they got LOST in the same cave? I dont get it.
- How did David know how to open all these doors? Did i miss something?
- So Vickers knew that her father was on the ship all this time?

FilmBuff322

I guess they did get lost in the same cave somehow...even with that dudes pods or whatever they called them mapping out the whole area..
--
david studied ancient languages and is a machine..we can only assume this allowed him to open these doors, same as being able to speak their language.
---
yea vickers knew the whole time... vickers was just another worthless throwaway character..
--I read that a scene was cut from when david was talking to someone but it isnt revealed who... it was david talking to vickers father when vickers father is younger (guy pearce) and says "try harder"... this is why vickers wants to know "what did he say"...

Skyler_ln

I kept expecting to see Guy Pearce at some point. I thought he was supposed to be in this movie? All we have is his old, old, old self. What was with the 'try harder' thing? What do you think Weyland meant when he told David that? To find the Engineers? And was David all on his one when he infected Holloway? What purpose was there for him doing that, I can't really find the motivation there.

Dominic A

the motive for infection was the same for all the androids in all the movies ! create one and capture it , cause it's such a wonderful species lol .
Wasn't the infection after being told to try harder ?
Gets rid of a scientist that might not cooperate
Also begets a second one on Shaw . everyone knew they were sharing same quarters same bed
" Try harder " because he doesn't want to die after all this money spent with no results . not that hard to figure out ; what if u spent a trillion dollars on something and ur employees told u there were problems ?

Skyler_ln

Yea, that's true, I guess seeing it a second time would help link everything together. So you think Weyland himself wanted to create this new species then?

Dominic A

No he didn't want to DIE lol . If you think you're going to meet your maker then hey he should know how to cure your genetic defects ( like aging ..)

touche

... and not only that, but his arrogance of assuming this higher life form would even grant it if he possessed the knowledge.

Volcomlifer321

you obviously didn't listen during the movie, and stop trying to act all smart and saying that they shouldn't have worked together, Lost was written very well except for the last episode.. and Aliens vs. Cowboys, hit or miss, some loved it some didn't. Prometheus was well written, with some holes, but the blame is not all on that one writer out of many, many other people have a say in it. so stop trying to act like you know everything about film.

Buzzfunk

Random internet Troll, who the fuck are you to tell people they should "stop acting all smart"?
I come here to share my opinion and had a few questions that even tho i DID listen, were not 100% clear to me.
Oh wait, is this Damon L posting under someone else's name? yeah looks like it. Dont be a bitter little bald Troll. Movie was still great but I am smart enough to tell you, that the movie was not well written.

In the start they show the engineer eating the black matter which destroys it and creates life on earth with a new whole new DNA. But when Noomi analyzes the Engineers head on Prometheus it matches with the human DNA.
Second, David knew that the engineers were on the mission to destroy life on earth so why did he take Weyland to the engineer?
Thirdly, was the starmap on the paintings of different ancient cultures actually put by the Engineers?

Skyler_ln

A lot of these 'plot holes' I personally feel aren't holes but (hopefully) something to be answered in the upcoming sequels. The opening scene confused me until I saw what you wrote, that makes sense now, but remember when she's telling Holloway about the DNA, she said their DNA predates ours? So I'm guessing it's a match in that our DNA came from theirs but obviously isn't the Same because otherwise we would BE the same as them.
David was a whole big mess of riddles. I think when he told Shaw that everyone wants to kill their parents, it means that he was tired of Weyland and wanted to be free of him (I think he discussed this with Holloway?) I'm kinda confused about why David did the things he did though. Like infecting Holloway and whatnot.
Third, no these were all so different, I think that these ancient cultures saw them maybe? Thought they were gods? Were told or knew the star configuration and so they painted it in their own ways and styles but I think it was just showing how ALL these culutres from around the world and all times pointed to the exact same origin.
My question is, when the Engineers came, why did they give humans a map to this outpost planet that they used to create weapons against humans? That's what I don't get, maybe my 3rd answer is wrong (probably is haha) but I really can't figure out why the Engineers would point them there.. Because think about it, if they pointed them there because they wanted them to all come so they could kill them, why not just kill the humans while they were on earth in the first place?
Any theories?

You kinda nailed it with the last question. Hmmm...like swiss cheese. Oh Damon..you so fancy yourself a game changer don't you?

touche

Who is to say they don't actually "live" on the planet to which this is a satellite... the picture was of a cluster of planets and they defined that satellite as having the most sustainable atmosphere for carbon based life, yet even that atmosphere was toxic until they went into the cave structures... I don't believe they had any intention of killing us or drawing a map, but rather, showing where they cam from. The decision to kill us was made after many generations of seeing their creation go sour. Apparently, the tipping point came something (presumably) around the general time as the crucifixion

Sean

Do you remember David saying, "Everyone wants their parents dead"? He knew the Engineers would kill Weyland and wanted that.

True that, David was undoubtedly the most complex and twisted character in the movie.

JKnaak

I think David's insight "Everyone wants their parents dead" also applies to the Engineers and their motivations. The Engineers are basically our "parents" and eventually when we humans become technologically advanced enough to read their star map and travel to that planet, we would then become a threat and need to be destroyed

There are multiple theories actually. The Engineers did like us and wanted us to meet their makers once we perfected space flight. But down the line we screwed things up and then they wanted to destroy us. But the black goo leaked and they were screwed themselves. So desperate to hear that a sequel is coming for Prometheus, it will surely answer a lot of questions.

touche

The engineers are our "parents", Vickers wants her parent dead, not to mention that David compares his parent (maker) being dead as freedom... In typical 'Lost' fashion it's thematic mental masturbation that doesn't necessarily bother with answering the question, but I'll take that in a popcorn flick over a dumb one, any day.

Skyler_ln

Ok, your first question was huge for me! When they said "Oh the other guys already took off" and then it cuts back to those two still inside wandering around lost, I thought it was gonna be like something/one got onto one of the rovers and made it on the ship, but then the captain just says No they're not back yet and nothing else was brought up about it.
That's pretty much the only plot hole I saw, everything else for the most part, while maybe not entirely clear, I can definitely see as being purposefully ambiguous or unanswered for the purpose of being left to the upcoming sequels. This isn't a standalone movie, so you really have to keep that in mind when questions come up but aren't answered by the end.

about David and the doors you missed the scene where David awakes first and is learning how pronounce some words ( foreshadowing ) and also he said that he knew 500-something( i forgot ) languages before he climbed the ladder at the 1st door . the intimation is that he had plenty of time to learn languages because he was awake 1st - maybe awake the whole 2-yr voyage

touche

Exactly. Excellent point... Not only that, but David is not human and we can only guess as to his motivations. They certainly don't need to be made clear to the viewer as he has interactions and directives we are not privy to as the viewer

Isildur_of_Numenor

** SPOILERS AHEAD **
I really enjoyed it. The acting was a strong point; Fassbender stood out, he delivered the best performance of the cast in my opinion. Noomi Rapace was also good, as well as Logan Marshall-Green. Theron was decent, but nothing special; maybe that's due to the script. When she reveals that she is the daughter of Peter Weyland (a multibilionaire played by Guy Pearce), I felt it was a predictable, poor outcome that made me roll my eyes. Idris Elba provided some comic relief - the scene with Theron was quite hilarious - but there is more to the character to be seen besides humour.
The plot was interesting and ambiguous. It introduces some new type of aliens and the space jockeys are the main focus this time. I wanted to see the Xenomorph in action, but the space jockey(s) - or Engineers, their name given by humans - covered that part pretty well. They were truly awesome.
The visuals were top notch, as expected. The horror elements are present, some scares here and there, but the surgery scene definitely takes the cake.
It has some minor inconsistencies with the original and the Engineers' motivations are not explained, but I guess the sequel will provide the answers... and some Xenomorph badassery hopefully.

Jericho

^THIS IS HOW YOU DO A SPOILER BASED POST PEOPLE!!^

Scopedog

Agreed. Logan Marshall-Green was quite good, but Fassbender, Rapace, and Elba are the standouts.
And you're right--the scene between Elba and Theron cracked me up. One of the best parts of the film.

Isildur_of_Numenor

"Are you a robot?" lol
I had a great time at the movies, Prometheus delivers in every department (ok, to some extent). It raised some questions, but I didn't need an answer for them, I like being kept in the dark, especially with sci-fi and horror.

Al

I actually said, out loud, "DUH" when it was 'revealed' that Theron was his daughter.

Isildur_of_Numenor

One of the worst moments in a film that otherwise was very good.

touche

I don't think that was supposed to be some grand "reveal", but simply another avenue to address that theme of one generation taking over and killing the next... Lineage is brought up several times in the films with lines like "don't all children want to kill their parents"

Dominic A

not "new type of aliens " but biological weapons - a precursor to the larvae stage we all know and love , that pops out of the eggs .Didn't u see the sucking holes - like jellyfish ? it was just a stored DNA ball until it hits water ( thus worm)or a body( altering body chemistry in men laying eggs in womb of women ) . That's why it was held in cannisters ; there was no queen to lay eggs yet . that's what they were before the 1st Alien we know is created .

Isildur_of_Numenor

They are still alien, they're not from Earth. And I think you know what I meant, namely new creatures: the big worm/snake, the octopus-like facehugger, the engineers... these are not present in any other film from the Alien universe.
I believe you are nitpicking.

Jericho

the Aliens were considered bio-weapons, history shows that every weapon in history has a protoype...hence the Proto-Xeno at the end of the movie...
obviously the facehuggers were designed as a MK-II to cut time it would take to make a bio-weapon alien....

Isildur_of_Numenor

I agree that the aliens are bio-weapons, this was clear since Alien (1979). These weapons are still from another planet, thus they are alien(s). They are life forms, beings, weapons.
I don't get what's the big deal, am I missing something? I still think we're making a mountain out of a molehill.
Anyway, great movie. Where's the sequel?

nathan

Anybody know if this will have a Directors Cut edition when it comes out on Bluray like almost all of Scott's other work?

tir na nog

I really hope so,I loved this film,extra footage welcome

Buzzfunk

I bet you $100 bucks there there will be a longer version. Its just another selling point for the BR so im sure...

Jericho

its Ridley...it would be sacrilegious without one.....

David Banner

This is the Director's Cut. Maybe we'll get an extended cut on day-like 2-3 years after the release of the current version, on Blu-Ray.

tsode

Ridley recently stated there would be no Director's Cut. So, for what it's worth. Read the Prometheus News sites for the full article.

Nastystuff

I was hoping for more. The trailers ruined the movie for me, they showed way too much, including the alien ship crashing, etc etc. I will only see teasers from now on...

Buzzfunk

Agreed. My BIGGEST gripe were the trailers. ESP. that new one, Terror Trailer, it shows all of the creatures, ship crashing and what not.
Not cool.

geoffcbassett

Agreed completely, had I gone in not knowing about the ship crash that point in the film would have been a great one, instead the entire scene doesn't work because we know its going to crash.

touche

Yep... I had (loosely) figured out the movie going in just by watching the trailers. Sadly, I doubt they have anything to do with Scott and everything do with some in a board room that wants all the action parts in to draw the summer crowds... thus creating expectations the film could never reach, nor did it want to.

Gellis79

Needed so much more character development to be a movie in itself, main let down was the use of Spall and Elba. Here's hoping they tie allot of it up in the sequels, otherwise I will be very dissapointed and it will taint the Alien legacy forever.

Here's my take: (SPOILERS)No one can argue that Prometheus looks incredibly impressive. It has a convincing atmosphere and makes use of an old-school look of science fiction which still feels fresh and hits all the right nostalgic buttons. The film keeps creeping up in my mind, its vagueness making me wonder how everything fits together and its style bringing about a lot of nostalgia for the things I love about Alien, one of my all-time favourite films. This would be a bigger advantage if my recollections weren't a mixed bag of excitement and disappointment. It's hard to say whether Prometheus has landed or just crashed with style.
There are aspects of the plot that are genuinely interesting, where its vagueness benefits to make you ponder over posed questions. There is, for instance, an aspect of the relationship with your father (or your creator in general) that I quite like. Your father is inevitably superior in hierarchy even though you might surpass him. He has to die in order for you to be fully independent. It is an ingrained consequence of the Prometheus myth without being previously (to my knowledge) explored. But there are at least as many other questions where the possible answers show a definite lack of imagination or intelligence.
One such question is how the aliens created us. The opening scene shows, if I'm correct, an alien sacrificing himself to grant the components of life to the waters of the earth. Now, either life evolves separately on earth from these components. If that is the case, then the human organism evolved entirely separately on a different planet, over the course of thousands of chaotic years (including the dinosaurs losing dominance over smaller mammals due to environmental impacts), into practically the same creature as the aliens (with almost the exact same DNA-code, mind you). This would be highly and deeply unlikely. Or we didn't evolve, but were created; our DNA-code was granted to us by this alien creature. That begs the question of why there are so many animals on this planet with whom we share huge amounts of DNA with. This bothers me, really bothers me. If it's a question of suspension of disbelief then don't be so vague about it. Neither is it something small that can easily be ignored. I don't expect all the science to be completely plausible in science fiction, but this incident isn't just some fictional science; it is engrained in its themes and its central question. The entire film soothes with questions that feel intentional to make you think, so don't punish us for doing so. It adds up to something somewhat incoherent and can feel a little underwhelming.
The structure of the story is familiar; perhaps a little bit too familiar. At times it feels like it's going through the motions. Some of those motions are awkwardly uninspired, but more often they are obviously cared for and still manage to thrill and bring about a sense of awe. The creatures are better than almost any monster or alien these days and although it is a big budget blockbuster, it still understands that tension resides in mystery. The ending, however, feels a bit too rushed at times for tension to build to its peak.
Noomi Rapace brings a wonderful performance, but truth be told, Fassbender steals every scene he's in. David is the star of the film. The most fleshed out character of the entire film is, ironically enough, the robot. Almost every other character has no development, no third emotion (the second emotion for all, except David, being fear) and they tend to just be plain stupid. Their manner of thinking is much more akin to a typical character of horror-films than a scientist. Jumping to conclusion seems far more logical in terms of the plot-development than as part of any scientific method. Reacting to what happens can at times seem foreign to them as well. The actors, however, do a good job of making these characters feel like real people even though they fit so perfectly and obviously in the required stereotypes.
Prometheus lies somewhere between a creature-feature and hard sci-fi. Although sadly it isn't the best of both worlds, but a clash of the charm and flaws of both. It has some wonderful spectacle, interesting creatures and it has some big existential questions, attention to detail and mysteries. But it also has idiotic characters, badly recycled structures, ideas and generally falls short thematically. It's too well made to hate, but too poor to love.

No need to apologize. I do disagree with you on a couple of things, but this is a well-written review. Better than a lot of stuff one spots on the web.

inappropriate_response

No, great synopsis. I disagree on the believable characters. The guy who has the scanning machines and the map gets lost ? The biologists who's afraid even tho he's with a 2000 year old specimen wants to return to the ship, but then thinks its fine to play with something that looks like a cobra. ?

What I mean to say isn't that the characters are believable (far from it), but that the actors do a pretty good job of making whatever they're doing at the time look believable in spite of how idiotic it might be what they're actually doing. It was never (or rarely) the acting that made them seem unbelievable.

Tache Noir

Well my two cents as a first time poster. having read all the replies above, I thought the majority of the comments were good discussions and included some things I did not notice (and I can't wait to see it again). As with everyone else I thought it was visually stunning, the f/x to me were top notch and the environments were amazing, totally transporting you somewhere else. I thought the lead 3 actors (Fassbender, Theron, and Rapace) did an amazing job. It was sad some of the cannon fodder didn't get too much development time such as in Alien (and Aliens even though not a Scott film).
Along with many others I thought there was some head scratching moments in the script, probably courtesy of that LOST guy of which I have only seen a few episodes. SPOILERS: The geologist guy and buddy get lost on the way out? Really? He is the one that deployed the "pups" and they have a direct link to the ship and their high tech suits. Then when they are stranded and the wormy things pop up, the "scientists" (presumably top of his game to be on a trillion dollar spaceship expedition) first instinct is to touch it? Not buying that. There was some other behavior that just seemed odd and could have been written better but those were the two that jumped at me.
I also thought, like others, at a certain point the story just seemed to blaze along too fast. I certainly wouldn't have minded another hour. I was completely engrossed the entire time.
My thoughts on the story (and hope this leads to some discussion) is that the black goo is some type of mutagen/biological weapon but that the engineers did not intend it to create new forms of self propagating life. Plus we never got to see the end result of the black goo ,with the humans at least, since the two infected got killed off, perhaps the worm/snakes were the end result of that particular species but who knows. Obviously something went wrong as there tons of dead engineers around and the cool holo dealio showed them all running from something. Indeed it seemed if the last engineer himself was infected, since when they showed the original engineer seeding planet earth practically naked and he was white all over, but the last surviving engineer looked slightly mutated (Giger'esque) and we saw him without a space suit on, and it looked like it was part of his skin. I think that creation of the first facehugger was initiated from David's poisoning of the beverage, then that guy has sex with Shaw. So you already got this mutagen stuff mixed up with reproductive organs and cells. Then the first facehugger implants on the last engineer (which may already be infected) and creates the first Alien (which kind of had weird human teeth? Need to see again). So the way I read it was the interaction with all the reproductive stuff in the humans and then with the engineer leads to a tough as hell creature being born that is able to propagate that is essentially a mixture of the two species (human and engineer) filtered/mutated through the black goo. So now hopefully we will get to see how the engineer that we see on LV-426 ends up there on a ship full of facehugger eggs. Was there a timeline ever established in the original Alien? Also in Scott's world it was never established how they reproduced (except that deleted nest scene from Alien) and the Alien Queen is not in Scott's world. So that's what I thought, sorry for the novel, please dissect. I'm eager to hear others thoughts since this movie had so many open questions for discussion.

GregDinskisk

First the first half of what you wrote, I think the two guys that left got lost due to the cockiness of the geologist. Or the two didn't ask where they were until all the rest were in the Prometheus, they had thought they could get out on their own.
I think the biologist had a mild case of autism. He seemed to not know too many social standards. He is probably incredibly smart in biology, but logically not so much. Like regarding the alien-python-killing thing. So, that could make sense.
Regarding the second half, I have no idea hahaha

I am also trying to make sense of this. The film left me feeling kind of empty. Wasn't expecting Alien or Aliens necessarily as Scotts said all the stuff about quasi-prequel and 'same DNA' - so I guess I was warned.
*SPOILER* Some things you are [perhaps] missing. I thing LV426 and LV223 are both weapons test sites for the engineers, but with different experimental routes. Maybe [I thinks so] LV426 learned from LV223. I just don't know why it was abandoned completely. Utter failure in the engineer's eyes? Well in Alien we learn that LV223 is also a failure - it got out of hand, hence the jockey with the hole in his stomach. Perhaps we should thank the aliens then that we still exist? The black goo stuff was meant for earth - engineers didn't like us anymore. The biological mutation side effects was perhaps unintentional, but what many are so confused by in the film is its different outcomes. Upon contact with the planet's atmosphere after the opening of the door it came in contact with the earth worms and made the funny snake creature thing; upon going through the human reproductive system it made a HUGE facehugger (which is different to the queen laying eggs system from Aliens but still fits). When the facehugger impregnated the engineer it produced an alien which is similar to what we all know but not exactly the same. This is probably because engineers are different biologically to humans. I think what the films is saying (actually causing to question) is our 'belief' and 'confidence in understanding' mutation, development and ultimately creation. One of the readers here said he thinks it highly unlikely that in the beginning the engineer disintegrated himself in order to start life, and after billions of years humanoids similar to them (us) were at the top of the evolutionary cycle. Maybe we are the pinnacle of evolution. Maybe the engineers had to destroy us because with our space travel and all, we were advancing beyond a toy for them? But then, in Ripley's time why weren't we destroyed yet through other attempts. Maybe Dr Shaw goes and wipes out the engineers in the sequels? Or maybe like on LV426, the other experiments also failed. I don't know.
What I did like about the film is that while I found it at times confusing is that it does seem to stand firm in its laws of science and biology and that us petty humans came there for a better understanding and didn't know what the f*** we had gotten ourselves into.

Kasino007

Yes, the play with a Cobralien made me shake my head, but I love the movie.

That was a great read and similar to how I felt about Prometheus. I went into it knowing that it was Damon so there was a high chance of plot holes,but there was so many that at a certain point you feel this is a directors cut or lacking details in an effort to layup Prometheus 2 if that will happen. The editing at some parts is plain and simple incomprehensible including the scene in which the wind seems to be blowing them out of the ship. Maybe there was things I missed that filled these holes, I am fine with a few plot holes,but it seems every 15 minutes there would be a plot hole sometimes a major one. I watched all of lost and was left disjointed,but it gave me that feeling of watching lost again like the final season constantly asking why. As you said it does feel like a simple horror movie structure with one person surviving to tell the tale. Prometheus feels as if it is trying to be more deep than it is, which is sad considering if they approached the story much better they have interesting concepts to work with.

GSDayton

Opening scene - what was that? The engineer drank the black stuff and
disintegrated into the water. I take this as infusing himself with the
creature, since the same thing happened to Marshall-Green when
Fassbender slipped it to him in a drink. So how could that have been
the engineer spreading his DNA on Earth?

Volume. The Engineer did so to create life on the planet and drank a massive amount.
David only gave Marshall a drop.

Margcdom

One is much bigger than the other (engineer vs marshall)

BinaryChaos

A bio-weapon is a bio-weapon it fulfills it's purpose regardless of the volume you consume. You seem to forget another crew member consumed or absorbed a much larger amount and he mutated into a monster with extreme flexibility along with strength. So, Holloway would of became what Fifield mutated into.

touche

Yeah, not sure I agree with your statement about bio-weapons... especially those created by an Alien race in a Sci Fi movie. Not sure your observation of human bio-weapons much apply here.

@twitter-52882593:disqus Just to answer your DNA question. The Engineer was not birthing man. But all life on the planet. The indidcations are how so widely the material affects all life. The worms that crawled into the substance became those Snake like things that evolved eventually into the facehuggers which in turn birth the aliens.The Engineer was broken down into his base components amino acids and all and the material started to resequence into a wide variety of DNA strands. Hard to catch on screen, but they were very different when they were recombining themselves. Leaving them to evolve on their own.
This to me explains why as you state we share common characteristics with other lifeforms. As we all had the same source host.

Margcdom

If there was a 99% DNA similarity, it would be more believable (nevertheless weird);100% makes no sense not to say impossible...

BinaryChaos

I don't think the worms had anything to do with the alien origin. The black ooze is really the origin of the alien. It seems to have different affects on different species from my observation. The worms just simply mutated into those snakes just as how it was trying to mutate 2 of the crew members but something unexpected happened which was 2 crew members mated creating a hybrid that became the facehugger.

Aztech

I agree with Binary... that is exactly what I got. The black ooze only mutated life. Procreating while infected created NEW lifeforms. Noomi's character ended up being the "mother" of the Alien xenomorph that we all know. She gave birth to the first face hugger (it will evolve into a smaller, more stealthy version that we all know). If you remember the two idiots that got lost, one was infected with the black ooze the other was killed by the worm that went into his mouth, he was not impregnated. The worm did not have the ability to reproduce a xenomorh. The new life form was created in Shaw's womb...

In retrospect and after watching the movie again, I am convinced that the black material was indeed a bio-weapon that no matter the host would eventually turn everything into the Alien we know. That each generational archytpe becomes more and more efficient.
Here is why:
If you look on the back wall of the chamber where they find the vases. You will see a fully fledged Alien as we know it in a wall sculpture. It is outstretched and if you look closely you will see it is inside the image of a host.
The worms became those eel like things, but when they stood up they look like facehuggers. Really look at them. They also attempted the same entry to the mouth to implant an egg. But was interupted when the team came back.
@facebook-639520403:disqus Aztech She is not the mother, she is irrelevant. The bioweapon even though passed through coitus still generated a progeny that would have and still attempted to so the same thing as the worms. The reason why the worms were not able to implant the egg was that they were not a high enough life form to fully maturate the weapon.
The engineer at the beggining drank something that while similar I do not think was the same substance. Different containers.
the mural tells the whole story.
ALSO am I the only one wondering what they hell was the Green transparent egglike thing on that altar?

BinaryChaos

Hmmm....
You've brought on some valid points there. I was thinking the samething you were explaining but that makes a lot of sense.
I have to see that mural again but yeah I saw that green transparent egg as well. I was wondering what the heck that was and if it opened to another chamber.

Skyler_ln

Ok. So let's chain this alien evolution stuff.
Worms crawl into black goo -> become cobra things -> get into what's-his-face's mouth -> was in his neck when the team came back and then it jumped out and disappeared. So was there a process going on there that was interrupted by them? Or was he just killed by it and that was that?
Fifield got sprayed with that cobra thing's acid goo when he cut it's head off and then fell into the black goo -> turned into super flexible mutant that kills some guys -> gets killed, that's the end of that.
David infected Holloway with goo (he probably would've become the same as Fifield then if he had not sacrificed himself) -> Sexes Shaw -> gets her pregnant -> has weird octopus thing that turns into big octopus facehugger -> facehugs an Engineer -> result is an Alien.
This Alien didn't look quite like the ones we all know and love from the Alien movies, so I'm guessing there's still some more breeding to be done to get it to that point. Something to look forward to in the sequels. I'm curious what the black goo itself does to a host like Fifield and Holloway, if there would've been more of an evolution had they not been killed.

So I have studied some of the set pics of the mural in the Container Chamber I think the mural confirms everything about that material. If you look at the top of the Mural, you can make out a Queen Below her the drone. Below the drone, on either side near the bottom, the facehuggers.I think the material tries to make itself into an embryonic delivery device. I think it needs a higher order being to do so. This is why I think the worms could not fully maturate into a delivery device. Only part way. This faulty maturation I think explains why the crewmen turned into some sort of weird aberation.Holloway would have been interesting. I think it would have been cool to see what he changed into. His impregnation of Shaw resulted in another embryonic delivery device. Which when allowed to do its thing, resulted in an alien. Different as it was prematurely interupted in it's developmental cycle. Thus not fully adopting the characteristics of its host like the other Aliens throughout the series do. The mural shows the Prime form the material tries to adopt. The Alien, perfect. I just think the materials proper cycle goes in the order of:
Infect host ... Create embryonic deleivery organism ... Organism delivers embryo ... Embryo attempts to develop into higher order queen should host be suitable or drone should host be inferior ... Embryo maturates to drone or queen ... bursts from chest .... If drone seeks out food, creates nest, captures further hosts ... if Queen captures hosts for drone production, then pupate into egg production for further propagation. I am pretty sure that how it would work based on the movies and other information.

Nope I was wondering the same thing. All of the wall art seemed to reflect the aliens body type. The movie seemed to go in too many directions.

Chjapa

Exactly. Great review.

Margcdom

Very good review!
It also bothers me the surgery scene, it is like she is not human, voided of abdominal organs, screaming but nothing coming out except the alien baby. Then she is running with just some abdominal pain, no bleeding, no shock...anesthetics don't explain it
Also, if humans are 100% similar to engineers, the head that exploded should have had some blood not greenish stuff?

Does not mean they are not capable of sex. Scott always viewed the Android in Alien as very similar to the Replicants in Blade Runner. They had pleasure models.
I think honestly in my opinion Theron was an Android. Several reasons is that she refers to him as father. Father, and Mother are terms used in Alien for the central AI onboard the ships. Like in Blade Runner Tyrell made one better than the rest, capable of emotion.
He is working on another Blade Runner. I think it was an homage to the story. David was the first model, but it does not say he is the only one. Also Weyland wanted to meet the creator. This mission was always about the chance to spend his last hours in the presence of his Creator. Weyland is the type of man that if he could create a David that everyone would want to have, then he would naturly want one that only he had. Something Special.
I also beleive she is not aware of it, much like in Blade Runner.

Guest_of_Honor

Although it was made to seem ambiguous, I think she was human...just because of the scene where she comes out of hibernation or sleep chamber whatever they call it. It wouldn't be for deception because it seemed like they didn't know each other until they got there. The part where she says "father" though was so cheesy and predictable I couldn't help rolling my eyes. lol

Father and mother are also, you know, human for mom and dad...
She wouldn't have been near as concerned with her safety, or at least not visibly so, if she were an android. And by that I'm not just talking the ending. I'm also talking her own private "lifeboat." She was human.

Al

Didn't read the full chain of posts, forgive me. I still insist that her level of concern, for herself, the whole chain of command, kings rule speech...she was human.

First off I believe she didn't know she was not human. I beleive she like her counterpart in blade runner had a self preservation instinct. Her lifeboat was only hers as she called it that. It was clearly meant for Weyland Hence the medical unit programmed for male anatomy in "her" lifeboat. Weyland was onboard the ship the whole time as you know, and his presence surprised her. Hence her hostility toward David as she realized that she was not truly in charge after all, and that all the facilities she thought was meant for her, were truly meant for him.
Also she man handled David like nothing with one hand, where as Shaw had to use a pully and a rope just to lower him down and did so with great difficulty. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced she was an Android.

Chrislny

I love your take on it. I too had the odd feeling that Vickers was really an Android. Hence her strength when she makes David talk.

Buzzfunk

Chris, nice man. Makes all sense and ESP since the medical unit was indeed only intended for male species. Crazy detail. Love it. Just wish the scrip would have been better. Damon l is really a tool.

BinaryChaos

What are you talking about? Are you saying Ripley was an android too? If you watch Alien she refers to the ship as mother...
I think she was human and the captain would of figured that out as well after he had sex with her sensing something was synthetic about her. I also don't understand why Weyland would make an android that isn't aware that it is an android. She would of figured it out herself like everyone else would have since droids can't age. She seems like she is an established figure back on earth so everyone around her would know she is an android she can't just pop up out of nowhere and he suddenly calls her his daughter. Also, why would he create a droid to bring more drama at his old age because the relationship seem distant with tension.
Weyland's reason for financing the expeditioin was to have a chance at immortality or youth from the engineers. He wasn't there to simply ask questions that wasn't his highest priority.

Binary your obviously missing some crucial information here. I am not even going to address your first comment about Rilpley as it is assanine.Weyland was seeking to meet his creator. He had accepted his mortal death already. Why.... Because he had the ability to transfer his conciousness into an android's body. Hence Alien 3 where he introduces himself to Ripley as Weyland.Put yourself in his shoes. You have all the money and resources in the world. You have the ability to create Androids. Strong, and indistinguishable from human. Your hypothesis about the Captain and people knowing she was an android is grasping... WHY... Look at Analee Call on the Betty. With them for months and NOBODY knew she was one. Ripley and the crew had no clue Ash was one.I already stated the reason Weyland would create her was because he can. Also what better way than to try a model with emotions. Make a "daughter". Did you not find her struggling with her emotions and self control. I did. Also Weyland went on this expeditition safe in the mindset that he had already copied his conciousness. We can assume this already as he dies on LV262 so how would you get his conciousness into the one who meets and speaks with Ripley unless he already did so before he left. Meaning research and prototyping had to be done again before he left. if I was making a model for me to port into, I would want to be able to fool people, be fully functional, and able to express emotion.As far as justifying Weylands reason, your dead wrong. Proof, Weyland says it hismelf in the movie.

Guest_of_Honor

Yes I agree with you BinaryChaos. I still think she's a human. There's a part in the movie where she says to Weyland "You don't expect me to sit in a board room while you go out....." which indicates that she is (despite their differences) an heir to the company. She's definitely set her eyes on becoming head of Weyland Industries and that's evident when she talks about the end of the reign of Kings. I don't think Weyland would name an Android a successor as they need calibration. She's obviously freaked out about the idea of her father being able to cheat death. She's bitter and jealous with David that's why she's hostile towards the robot. When she sees Weyland die, you can clearly see relief and excitement to go back home and claim what's hers. She was a controlling stuffy super bitch and that made her seem like a robot at times and I think people are reading way into it.

BinaryChaos

I don't know where you get those ideas but it sounds completely ridiculous almost out of a Star Trek episode. I think you have to watch the movie again and listen to the words that were expressed...
Peter Weyland, in the movie Prometheus, says that he is there to cheat death and the engineers are the key.
Peter Weyland also expresses in the movie that David is the son that he never had indicating that he favors his creation over his natural born daughter.
As for Charles Bishop Weyland that you speak of in Alien 3 still holds a question mark to many people on where he truly fits in, in Ridly Scott's Alien universe. As far as I know Peter Weyland was originally a direct descendent of Bishop meaning his son.
I don't remember Bishop in Alien 3 bleeding milk it was actual blood. If Bishop in Alien 3 is an advanced prototype that could bleed red blood then why did Analee Call bleed milk in Alien Resurrection?
Ridley Scott never said that his prequel was directly linked to those sequels in the sense of timeline.

Dominic A

" Peter Weyland was originally a direct descendent of Bishop meaning his son."
OK how did Bishop - the android - have the sperm ?? to make Weyland -the original and
CREATOR ! ?
hmm maybe Bishop the android goes back in time and passes himself off as Weyland ??? , re-creating HIMSELF not W . But , THAT'S actually more ridiculous than anything ever written for Star Trek lol .
( btw u can't be a sci-fi fan , which I assume you are 'cause you're commenting on a sci-fi film , and bash ST . This genre wouldn't have become so important WITHOUT ST and it's fans )
Where'd you get the "Charles Bishop " part - extended version ? 'Cause i just watched a cable reply of A3 - not in there .
Better that you take the AvsP Weyland - or this movie's version - as the original and an android was created with his memories sometime after he dies
Maybe Analee is not as advanced as the superior bodies Weyland's company creates for him . With real blood ! Or the body on the Prometheus IS the copy and the original is in cryo unless needed - as in A3 .
You're " ... indicating .. " assumption is off-base We don't know whether the daughter is NOT or is a lab creation . If she is , it doesn't mean Weyland can't still love the son more .
" the captain would of figured that out as well after he had sex with
her sensing something was synthetic about her. '
You ever had sex with an android ? How do YOU know how to tell the difference ???
( got a porn star's replica vagina , or a latex doll ???

BinaryChaos

@35f745bb335b9ea63e63bcf4cd8cbaf7:disqus
That is the most moronic response I've ever gotten on this site.
Are you telling me you can't tell the difference between leather and pleather? Are you telling me you can't tell the difference between a fake plant and a real one? Judging by your response you have no sense nor common sense. I'll leave it at that.
Let's say for arguments sake that Ms. Vickers is an android but not only an android but a replica of herself and the real Ms. Vickers was really back on planet earth conducting business as usual. Now that would make a lot of sense because judging by her character whom believes only in her existance and agendas wouldn't dare step foot on the ship to uncharted territories at the risk of being killed. The only person who would have knowledge of this replica would be her and after getting reports that the mission has failed and she is left to run the business then she would take over possibly being responsible for the Weyland and Yutani merger and sending a rescue team to find out what happened following basic protocol.
Since the director chose to play around with the idea that she may or may not be an android that is the only plausible reason for her to be an android.

Binary you are geting a little insulting towards people. I am askijng for facts not conjecture. Your calling everyone names who does not agree with you dude. Chill out. People have opinions and while alot are based on logic your not offering up any proof to back yours up. Do so, calm that attitude down a bit and people will listen to you, otherwise your just coming off as a troll.

Ok Binary watched some keys parts to the movie over again. I am revising my theory, but can defend why I think Vickers is an Android.
1.) Vickers new Weyland was onboard. She stayed in the lifepod suite and told people it was hers mearly because the fact Weyland was on board was suppose to be a secret. Hence why the medpod was programmed for male anatomy.
Proof: Vickers when talking to Weyland expresses that she was not going to be left behind while weyland goes on the trip. near the end of the film.
2.) Weyland also according to his own words in both the viral site, and TED is the creator and founder of Weyland. He is not the offspring of bishop. Nor has he any sons of his own. He also recognizes that he has no children of his own.
Belief: Vickers was the first interation of the Android model. With emotions. However I beleive that she proved to be too erratic and unstable with emotions. She however as an android is calculating and cold and can do what needs to be done as a board member. She says herself she was a member of the board.
She refers to Weyland as Father. However David refers to her as mother. David and Vickers look similar. David refers to her as mother as she was the first of the Android series... Mother to them all if you will. Unique which would appeal to Weyland. Weyland creates her and is disturbed by her imperfection.
This is why he seems to shun her in favor of David. You could not simply do that to your own flesh and blood. Weyland is anything but cold. He has a dog, he believes in a creator. The indifference he shows towards her would be cruel if she were a child. but Weyland is victim of one flaw here. She has emotion, and he see's her as a machine. He treats her like an inferior model. Outclassed by David and without the "drama" as you put it.
You gave me that thought. Why would an old want that drama. Because he was not counting on the flawed implementation of her model with emotion.
Ridley did this before. We know the models are capable of sex and can be indistinguishable to crew. Ash fooled the crew and a scene where Rilepy asks Lambert about sex with Ash was deleted to not spoli the fact Ash was an android was left out. So this says that the mindset of Ridley was in that area. Analee fooled her crew as well. To answer your question she also was an older second generation Auton.
Autons were "second generation" synthetics created to revitalize the faltering synthetics industry of the 24th century. The plan backfired when the autons rebelled against their human masters in a bloody event known as "The Recall". This event preceeded the events in Alien 3 by several decades. So it is possible yes that they improved the Android models to bleed more realistically.
Back to Vickers: David wore a suit as to make human counterparts more comfortable. But Vickers wants to fit in and does not want to be seen as an android. This is why she represents her self in an overcompensating way as human. My Lifepod, my med machine, even though it is not hers. Cryosleep. Though she had no negative reaction like the others did. She popped right out as the first to awake and starts working out. Not to build muscle, but as appearance and to get the systems running after sitting for so long dormant. Ash did this in Alien as well. Little sprints for the same purpose.
When challenged about being a robot, she immediatly over compensates by having sex with the Captain.
She is strong and man handles David like nothing where as Shaw with a pully and rope struggles to move him.
I think my arguement is logical, and I can go on. When Prometheus 2 comes out, and it is being planned, when Theron is back in it, you will see.

BinaryChaos

Chris, once again what are you talking about?
1. I just gave you the facts and proof deal with it.
2. Don't try to come off as a victim and make me out to be the only person on this site victimizing everyone. Respect goes both ways and if you want respect you have to show it my friend.
3. This site is about sharing opinions and since the movie leaves a lot of questions people can only assume what will happen next. I never came off as "Mr. know it all" so take your own advice and relax, sir.

Proof: Weyland in March of 2023 during his TED speech states that they can already creat cybernetic individuals. Direct Quote: "We can create cybernetic individuals, that in a few short years will be indistinguishable from us." That statement was made as stated in March of 2023. The mission takes place after Weylands recording dating June 22, 2091. I think 68 years is enough time to produce that "indistinguishable cyebernetic Individual" Weyland refered too. David is not the model, as he has no emotions, so who was the first model? Indistinguishable means that you cannot distinguish between us and them. meaning they would have to have emotion, anatomy, everything we as people come with. Think about it. It makes to much sense to ignore.What facts did you give. You clearly did not read my last post to you. Because I refutted your so called facts with proof of my own.I am not coming off as any vicitm, but your attacking me, and other people on here for mearly disagreeing with you. I have not called anyone names or bad mouthed them, or you.I know the movie leaves alot of questions, and up untill the name calling and bad mouthing you were doing, we WERE having a good debate, your the one who is sinking it down to something baser.So again sir I say R E L A X.

BinaryChaos

Clearly you aren't reading closely to what I've been saying all along. Open up your mind and stop being objective in proving something to yourself.
Just like in the movie everyone has a strong belief and I'm sticking to my guns it doesn't really matter who is right or wrong these are just theories and assumptions. The people with the real answers are the writers themselves that can be easily influenced by others with a better idea that can throw off anyones theory. If you don't believe that look up "egg morphing alien".
Keep up with your viral studies I actually have a life to live.

Dominic A

Binary :
please remember that this story is set almost a 100 yrs ahead of AvsP . How do YOU know , in that time , that material won't be made that is as close as you can get to human skin . the Weyland qoute Chris gave u says they would be " indistinguishable" . it's sci-fi dude suspend your disbelief or you'll miss the point .
BTW go back to your 1st post in this thread . You said you think she's HUMAN . I didn't ask for an opinion of why she might be an android . You actually make my point for me in your reply . Theron definitely played it as if she was but we don't know only Ridley does ...
Also did you see that David bled MILK , so at least that's consistent.
You argue like a Republican ; you don't answer questions with facts , you just attack those disagreeing with you .If these are " theories and assumptions " then why insult Chris and I ?? Only a MORON makes assumptions on facts he doesn't have . Like the state of fake skin creation 77 years from now ....
Now that I've seen it , the original Weyland is definitely on the ship . every other Weyland is a copy .Just take AvsP as a different storyline .
Altho i just read in the NYTimes that Tim Wu is working on a " brain map " in order to copy and store your neural connections .
Hmmmmmmm

Vodo

@ Chris I would like to say I enjoy your theory about Vickers. I have seen the movies 4 times now looking at the things you have pointed out. I also looked at the TED video and agree 100%.
@BinaryChaos:disqus I diasgree with you, and personally really think you do not belong in this community. You are overly harsh and critical of people and I think Chris was trying to have an honest debate with you and you just were being, for lack of a better word, a Jerk. In this one thread alone you attacked Dominic and Chris. You never answered any of their questions, and were just a douche to them. I hold you in no respect at all, and have been coming here for a long time.
Take your own words and get a life.

Why else would you have a lifepod built with all the comforts of home and a top class major surgical suite programmed for a man. The most important person on board was Weyland. Who else would it be for.

Buzzfunk

Good point Chris...

spartan300

-Chris
I have been making the same argument about Vickers being a droid since I saw the movie. I was looking at the Weyland Industries website to see if there is any mention of Weyland's "Daughter"... there is not. Looking around some more I saw (I think in the Investors Relations section) it lists having 1 Andriod Employee. Maybe far-reaching, but at least interesting.

Jericho

1 android employee references to David...but it also means a company can have one NOT on paper....

Kasino007

Yeah, that Lost writer just confirmed Vickers is not an Andriod. You're right, but it was fun while it lasted. If they ever make an android that looks like Charlize, sign me up.

Space_is_Scary

It was an Alien prequel!? That kind of threw me for a loop in the end. I was thinking that this was eerily similar to the original Alien movies. Little did I know...

I was a bit disappointed leaving the theatre. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every second of the movie. However I coulnd't help to feel that Ridley Scott should have given the story more time, things were happening too fast. I could have easily watched another hour. But I loved the atmosphere of the movie!

Agreed. Not to mention the movie seemed anti-climactic. However after much thought I blame that on myself watching everthing leading up to the movie and being able to piece the ending together. So there was little surprise.I blame Alex for part of that with all his damn well written articles and snippits here that he forced me to watch : P

Peter

See it again. It will feel different the second time and you might catch up with a lot more details you missed before.

David Balderdash

I honestly thought it was a good (enough) movie. Movies make up a large part of my life, but I'm getting too old to let them rule it. I've been finding lately that when a movie is part of a long running franchise, whether the director admits it ahead of time or not, there are too many factors at work in its success.
First off, there's a chance I was very young when the original, or originals, happened. I saw the original Alien when I was very young, and it scared the hell out of me. That feeling of being scared is what made me want to see it again, years later. I didn't know what an awesome movie it was. I just wanted to see it again. By the time I was old enough to appreciate it, there were a million movies like it. I didn't realize it, but it was because of this movie that those others existed.
This is the same thing that the newest Indiana Jones suffered from. 'Raiders of The Lost Ark' remains a masterpiece, and everything after it is pretty awful. People who grew up watching those movies were convinced they were all equally great, so years later when a new story emerges, it is immediately treated as if it needs to live up to some standard that doesn't exist.
If Ridley Scott had just abandoned the idea of creating a storyline leading up to 'Alien,' and made a new science fiction movie, people would be acting a lot differently. There were plenty of white knuckle moments in 'Prometheus.' I was pretty immersed until the last 20 minutes, when I realized how rapidly it was trying to wrap up and create an full-on 'Alien' parallel.
This is why my original (deleted) comment, "It didn't change my life, so I killed myself," was written. If you're looking for movies to change your life, then it's obvious that a life is really what you're missing.

N.

Loved the movie cant stop thinking about it! Here is my main problem tho: Ok in "Alien" we see the Space Jockey inside the ship and I believe in the Director's Cut they show a hole in its Chest...Now doesnt this seem like an issue especially since he is in the seat in "Alien" but in "Prometheus" the Space Jockey chases after Shaw and has the Xeno Baby in the ship...unless there is another Jockey or the suit is somewhat left in shape in the chair I just dont know....

Different jockey, on a different ship, on a different planet. It's also a different alien too. Total headmelt.

Jurassic_Max

thats what Prometheus 2 is for

inappropriate_response

and 3

Guest

No they're not. The SJ in Alien was fossilized meaning his chest burst long before Prometheus even left earth.
Lindelof has also said the potential sequels would stray even further from the Alien mythos.

inappropriate_response

In an interview, RS says 'at least 2 more before you get to where alien starts'. The reason the SJ is fossilised is for a completely different reason. I'm talking about 2 more films to *explain* the point upto alien, it doesn't mean you can't have events that predate that.

You like a lot of people missed a couple of crucial details. Prometheus takes place on LV 262. Alien takes place on LV 426. Same system and host planet, different moons. There are more ships on LV 262 David indicated there were several. It leaves me to beleive that the Alien lifeform, makes it onboard one of those other ships. I am certain it found another jockey on board. Perhaps causing him to crash on LV 426. Finally it catches him and implants its egg inside, gestated and that life form once it burst from the Jockeys chest in the chair, is the Alien we all know and love and then goes onto to lay all the eggs in the cargo hold. That the crew of the Nostromo later finds.

N.

Thank you for that I thought for certain it was a different location I just was not positive! But now I just feel like a Moron for overlooking that detail.

Buzzfunk

Hey Chris,
How can there be a Muriel with the Alien if Shaw gave birth to the first one? Am i missing something ?

To answer your question that is my point. There IS a sculpture on the wall of a fully developed Alien on the wall of the tomb where they find the Vases. It is plain as day in the movie. The Alien in the sculpture is inside the body of one of those "engineers". At the foot is a green egg-like translucent thing.Shaw did not give birth to the first one at all. The fluid it is my beleif will convert anything it comes into contact with as a lifeform... or at least attempt too.... into the Alien. The Worms were converted to a version of the facehugger.Shaws implantation or infection was another facehugger.Nothing in the film that the facehuggers came into contact with were suitable to host the Alien embryo. Not untill the last scene.
As the Captiain said he felt this was a military test facility. This seems to be the ultimate bio-weapon. An Alien that will generationally with each implantation and infection get better and better. This is echo'd in the movies where one is more humanoid in Alien 1 and 2, The 3rd is Doglike as the host was a dog. It adapts to its host and adopts the best characteristics.Shaw did not give birth to the first one, the first one by proxy of the mural has already been developed.

DoomCanoe

It was decent, while anyone can agree it was visually amazing i felt the flow of the story was lacking because of all the unnecessary scenes. we could have easily done with out the re animated head, the zombie guy, and a few other scenes that just did not need to be in there. i would throw the Squid baby into that category but it does kind of answer the questions of how the Xenomorphs are created and how the engineer on the original ship died.
I will say that after realizing that the Xenomorph we see at the end is only slightly related to the ones in alien, and that the whole thing took place on LV-223 not LV-426 making the prequel truly its own thing but with the alien DNA (as promised) i do appreciate it a lot more.
But its a visually stunning scifi flick with some great ideas, it just tries to do to much and ends up failing to deliver any true presence because of that. There is no jaw dropping moment, no time spent on the edge of your seat or any true wow factor to it all. It just ends up as another movie, and sadly people wanted it to be more then that.

GSDayton

Opening scene - what was that? The engineer drank the black stuff and disintegrated into the water. I take this as infusing himself with the creature, since the same thing happened to Marshall-Green when Fassbender slipped it to him in a drink. So how could that have been the engineer spreading his DNA on Earth?

BinaryChaos

What was in the cave was a bio-weapon aka the alien origin. What the Engineer took in the opening scene was completely different in the purpose of creating life on a habitable planet.

Exactly what I was saying earlier. Similar look different substances. Also different containers.

Jurassic_Max

Favorite movie of the year so far next to The Avengers

Key

It was very enjoyable...me and my girlfriend were both in awe
it left me hoping they will follow up with a sequel because I would LOVE to see shaw go to the Engineer's home planet and find some answers
the opening scene was the only part of the movie that left me scratching my head at the end...it really didn't have anything to do with this film...maybe the next film?...I don't know

mike

After seeing it I said it was an interesting story and I enjoyed the ride but ultimately didn't like it. I'm not sure though.
Then my friend said it was written by the same guy that did Lost.
Makes perfect sense now.

I was looking foward to it big time, it wasn't what I expected,
but it satisfied my anticipation, it's a good/solid film, although I feel there could've been more,
Oh well I enjoyed it in both's its visuals and structure and I feel I got my money's worth, and I guess in the end that's what truly matters.
#BigThingsHaveSmallBegginings

Isuck

The writers of lost are notrocious for leaving plot holes and keep you begging for questions, too bad this is a movie and not a tv show we are dealing with.

Brooklynlongo

"Notrocious."
I like that.
Thanks.

Isuck

Is this sarcasm? Lol.
I also should have said "notorious" although its both notrocious and notorious

Guest

I think the plot holes were more because they had a bigger story than they had time for. There was prob a lot more explanations on the cutting room floor.

Horrible script, absolutely dreadful, that being said Noomi and Fassbender were both very good and the visuals were incredible, as was Ridley's direction. Its just a shame all that talent was put into such a mess of a script.

I love how anyone who didn't love this movie is implied to be an idiot that doesn't get the deeper points of the film. I wanted to love the film and gave it every chance to win me over but the plot holes are there in spades and the script is very, very weak. Idea-good Execution-not good
Don't be such an a-hole

Voice of Reason

SPOILER + QUESTION:
Did anyone notice when David had his li'l lazer-light show of the Galaxy if there was any visual of "LV-????" being threaded or by the planets? It's clear the ship in Prometheus isn't the one discovered by The Nostromo . But maybe the LV labelling system was not engineer inspired?
Also, was Charlize referred to as "Mother?"

Will

What made the captain realize that what they had found was a weapon and not just a life form?
Why did the pods start leaking and moving when the people entered the room?

BinaryChaos

When they landed on the planet the captain began to witness a lot of hostility much less unusual things happening. The engineer didn't give them a warm welcoming and Fifield had mutated into something that wanted to destroy the crew members.
I'm not sure why the pods began to leak but I'd say that's one of the many characteristics of the Alien when the egg only came alive when it sensed a living being that could be suitable host. I'd say it's the samething with those pods.

thebatman

alien at the end was siiiiiiccccckkkkkk!!!!!!

Nem

It's a fucking sci-fi movie, and sci-fi movies are not supposed to solve or make sense of anything. The fuck is wrong with people today.. stop bitching about the movie and enjoy the god damn movie. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE.

really_a_Bmovie

It maybe falls into the broad category of SF genre but it's not really a hard SF like we(well I anyway) hoped it would be.It's more of a B-movie with high budget which points into general direction of SF and even then the so called "SF" is just a dressing for stupid ass triller/horror plothole ridden flick.
The fact that the screenplay has been rewriten really shows.
It looks pretty but overall it's just meh...
Also:
SF is not supposed to make sense?LOLWUT?

frontrow

And what if people didn't enjoy the movie? Personally I thought it was good but not amazing and I was expecting amazing. What made Alien and Aliens so amazing for me was that they were self-contained stories and they scared the hell out of me while making me speculate as to the origins/aftermath.
Having watched Prometheus I wondered why Scott, Lindelof and co couldn't have made a standalone cracking thriller. I'm all for pondering the bigger picture but not at the expense of the story.

Gutsspill

I REALLY enjoyed it. Hopefully it does well enough to warrant a sequel, so it can answer some questions, and ask 1000x more as Prometheus did. As maddening as it sometimes gets, browsing various forums do feed you some theories that fill those holes for the time-being.
My review for anyone who cares:
http://gutsspill.blogspot.com/2012/06/prometheus.html

JJ King

WOW tons of fun! Visually spectacular to behold. Just enough 3D. I was really intrigued by the story, suspense, thrills, sci-fi.. and I really dug that more questions were posed than answered. Ridley Scott did such a great job showing off this universe that I can't wait to see more of it.

guest

Here is my thought process to explain why the same black liquid both created life on earth and killed/mutated people. I do not believe it was a military installation, but rather a science station that dealt with dangerous components (which explains the move from their home planet). David says it best when he says that in order to create life, you must destroy life. The engineer sacrifices himself to create life on earth (by drinking a good portion of the black liquied). They then plan on destroying us with the same substance (perhaps the why will be answered in the sequel) by breaking us down to our most base components. The reason that did not work on the scientist is that the single drop was either only enough to mutate and not break down, or he was killed before the process could complete itself.
Perhaps the reason we break down but the cattipilars did not is that their exoskeleton protects them from the breakdown, but instead mutates. That is why the fetus that mutates into an early form of a face hugger eventually creates a creature with an exoskeleton (rather than mutating due to the liquid, it adapts to the changes created by the liquid.)

Awfully disappointing to fans of the genre
Often insulting, as well. Here's why.
total lack of character development except Dr. Shaw who is a wimpy version of thw weakest female heroin. Dr. Hollaway was absurd. His actions mirrored a surfer bully more than a scientist of any kind. Weyland's make-up was totally unbelievable and overwrought. Scriptwise it seemed like they tried glueing together disjointed scenes with comic one line banter as characters fell even more out if scenes as if they were in a different movie. The entire self- cesarean procedure and afterwards were a complete assault on realism. No explanations or even aknowledgements between characters made events unimportant and irrelevent. The ship design would have been cool except it was barely featured. There are so many more inane points in the movie that I cannot waste another moment making without myself angrier. Will have to watch some Thelma &Louise to remind myself Scott does have talent beyond Alien.
Horrible job Mr. Ridley.

Dominic A

You want a 4-hr movie , with 10 mins of background on EVERBODY in the movie ? They did enough the major characters ( Shaw David Idris Theron Pearce) ; everything else was setting up the reasons why the minor ones were dying 1st . Maybe Ford needed more setup ....Shaw is a scientist ; Ripley was a military soldier . Noomi can't play it like she was Lisbeth Salander .
Hmmm not so much disjointed ; more like quick cuts directly to the actors no panning around or walking to sets before people start talking( altho Vickers did this once or twice ) - people are already in place alot . They call this MTV-style editing - quick cuts like in videos .
Holloway , technically , was written as a personality opposite of Shaw's ( opposites attract ! ) he did have the Scotland and briefing scenes to look competent , but hey he's dying early don't invest too much in him - in a movie anyway a book author would have pages to flesh him out .
Admittedly , to me this operation scene WAS the worst part - altho visually arresting like most parts of the movie . Those staples ! technically a way to weaken the hero so their accomplishment seems even better , more heroic .
And she saw the engineers with holes in their mid-section ; it had to come
out or she dies . Was decently foreshadowed.
Suspend your disbelief ! don't get outraged at sci-fi ; it's not written to get Oscars ...

simple

i enjoyed the movie and thought it was a good movie. It wasn't perfect, but it was very enjoyable. sometimes i feel people build up movies with this kind of anticipation, so they have no other choice but to see it fail. it needs to be looked at more simplistic. It was an entertaining movie, that was unpredictable, and it had me glued to my seat. i felt for some of the characters, even David. The whole array of characters was amazing as well. there were numerous components of the movie that just thrilled and amazed me, so overall, it was a good film.

Ebrandrick1

Loved the film. Different direction from the usual Alien movie and so very refreshing ! I want to watch this movie again and again , and I want a sequel. The designs and characters were amazing. Thank you Ridley for taking me on this journey to another world. Pure escapism . A perfect film and I am very happy !

Old_Instant_Classic

I think this is an example of a film that will ultimately benefit from its sequels. Once this particular story has a chance to be completed through an additional film or films, I believe this one will be appreciated a lot more for what it's trying to do. I for one love the fact that this film poses more questions than it answers. I found that it provided a good combination of entertainment and intrigue.
It seems that a lot of films/shows cater too much to an audience's laziness, laying all of the answers out as plainly as the ABC's. This may be entertaining, but is that always interesting?
Say what you will about Damon Lindelof's writing. But I happened to love Lost because it dared to challenge the audience. It wasn't afraid to pose questions and leave it up to us to think about the answers. It wasn't about providing answers to every single one of its questions. Instead, it was ultimately about the journey. This understandably frustrated a lot of people, but I think it's a big reason why it will go down as one of the most original pieces of entertainment ever.
Of course, those who like to break down a film's structure and performances in depth will always have issues because no film is absolutely perfect. But the fact that this one causes you to think and wonder about what's lying under the surface is a good thing in my opinion. In a way, I think the goal of any good filmmaker, or artist in general, is to have their works elicit conversation and sometimes even frustration. Just because some things aren't explained to a t it doesn't mean that the film is then full of plot holes. I enjoyed this one for what it was and am looking forward to what's in store if there are other films.

Alien

Lost's ending completely destroys your arguement as to his writing being an adventure or journey. They even said they wouldnt end it with them being dead the whole time, then he goes and takes the easy way out. Im all for open interpretation but come on, really?
Side note: the movie has some really bad points but there is also a lot of good that came from this movie. If you are a big fan of alien then this movie had to have touched home. Good idea, watch the first one prior to viewing this, the similarities in visuals is amazing, then again the dialogue is not even comparable, save for fassenburger's role

Old_Instant_Classic

I said say what you will about his writing. Meaning, I understand that it's not perfect. I was really referring to the show as a whole. I don't actually think the characters were dead the whole time, just during the final season. That's beside the point, though. My point was that it wasn't about the imperfections in the writing for me, but about the overall story/experience. Whether they succeeded with end product is your own opinion. That's what what I find interesting.

Alien

Im all for open interpretation, in fact thats what really makes film, what we the audience garner from our viewings. That being said, i feel his writing is his greatest asset and his worst enemy. He can make awesome plot changes and really get the audience hooked then he ends up painting himself into a corner and rather finish this plot that he has us guessing on, he throws another wild one at us

geekusi

everyone thinks this is in fact a direct prequel and it may yet be, if there was a dormant pilot on the ship that took off at the end and they go off course and in fact crashes on the correct planet that began Alien, well there is your answer otherwise just relax and wait for Blade Runner 2 to come out woohoo

Kaulbach1

Visually impressive and generally well-produced (although the change in tempo towards the end detracted from the pace set earlier which really contributed to the atmosphere of the film). It felt like there was a time limit and it just got rushed towards the end.
Main gripe is the ghastly faith / evolution sub-plot. That really needs to get kicked into touch - found it uncomfortably embarrassing to be honest

Funny, I'd mentioned the faith/science thing before, I found that a bit annoying also, but human beings are not that clever and do enjoy a bit of idol worship. I suppose the whole thing about them flying all that way is a bit of idol worship in itself.
Weirdly Ridley Scott said there was meant to be a scene where the Engineers sent an envoy, some dude named 'Jesus' to look in on man, and surprisingly enough man killed him. This lead to the aliens going to launch the attack that never happened due to the infection.

Son I'm a dissapoint

We kill Jesus therefore xenomorphs...Which is utterly stupid...why promote christianity ?...why Jesus?..why not Buda or Krishna or any other religious figure?
This whole Ancient Astronauts plot is just plain silly...should have found another motivation for the space expedition ...like unobtainium (lol) or smth... or use the same thing as in original alien ..a signal detected by SETI...

I think Jesus pretty much ripped off Buddha anyway, at least that's how the story goes.
my friend had another theory that because man was worshipping the Jesus beard that the Engineer folks got angry and decided to be all bad god style.
My theory is, at first the engineer folks were a peaceful creative people, but after a while they became a bit of a bunch of ballbags, who got into some war action and started using their magic goo for bad stuff.
I don't think it would take much to imagine them changing over time like humans do, like the Romans changed over their reign sorto.
Also I think the guy they woke up was a solidier not like the cloaked one at the beginning. He was angry just by being woken up I think, imagine waking a soldier in the middle of the night and asking for the key to eternal life? You'd be getting stabbed in the face, he he.
Another friend said that maybe the reason he was angry was that he could recognise that David was not human, but created by humans, therefore the humans were playing God, which = baaaad, because only the enginebeers can create people in their image.
Maybe I just got way too into reading about it.
On a completely different note, I'm not sure how much Giger was involved in the film? Can anyone clear that up?

Dominic A

U miss the point of the last scene . meaning what we know as an Alien could only have been created from an Engineer ( with SOME of Human DNA ) and the bio weapon face-huggers . It's a new thread ; why repeat yourself say something different

UknowNuffinJonSnow

The point of the last scene is fanservice and nothing else.
Movie tries but it's a mess.
I really hope the directors cut will be much much much better.

Dominic A

Isn't their JOB to serve the fans ??
Yes it could be better but was it , if u suspend ur belief and ur analytic side , ENTERTAINING ?? ( which is also their job )
just go with the flow

touche

Really disagree with you there - big time... Not that it was expertly done, but you are talking about the ORIGIN of man, here... it has everything to do with faith vs science, which is probably why he wanted the dude from Lost to write it.

mooreworthy

Immensely engaging and entertaining. Didn't have to have big scares folks. Been there, done that.

Here's my take on the movie right or wrong I analyze the shit out of everything lol. I thought the beginning showed the alien being releasing the toxin on the planet to stop his counterparts from destroying earth, His ship leaves him behind, he drops his armor etc and releases hell. Most of his soldier friends don't make it to the bridge of their ships but the ones that do jump into hyper sleep to avoid being contaminated. Allot of people say they are all hostile but they obviously have visited our ancestors and left clues of their visit behind which leads us to them. My guess is some of them welcome our creation and others see us as an abomination.
Overall I loved the film for entertainments sake. The other half of me felt robbed of some good spine tingling scares. I never felt scared and thats a problem. 20+ Xenomorph's running at me inside of a locked room ceiling scared the shit out of me lol.
On another note, Alien fans can look forward to Colonial Marines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w3vlks9lYY&feature=endscreen&NR=1

For people paying attention to the ending, if they do turn this into a trilogy they will continue on with David and Elizabeth's story, not the other ending. We should never see one of these films end with the Engineer and its chest ripped open on LV-426

PlasticMoonRain

Although Prometheus was never boring, the plot was incoherent and filled with more holes than a pack of Swiss cheese.
You can debate this movie until the cows come home - inexplicable actions and logic gaps are the signs of a bad script.
Let's see: you've one guy who wrote the ridiculous Russian alien attack film and the other who wrote those pantheons of clarity, Lost and Cowboys vs. Aliens.
And yiou're spending all this time wondering why David gave Holloway the black goo, what did David tell the Engineer to piss him off and if Theron's character was a robot or not?
Ridley Scott was not sitting next to me in the theater to explain what he meant to say in retrospect.
I had no expectations for this movie. It was great to tackle Big Ideas instead of an Alien rehash. But it takes a great scriptwriter to tackle that stuff. That was not the case with Prometheus.
Yes, it was stunning to look at. There is no guarantee there will be a sequel to answer the ridiculous plot holes of this film.

I loved it! With that said, it is no Alien, but that is not a bad thing... It's a NEW thing. I kinda think the "Alien" franchise has been played out. I don't care about those monsters anymore. I love the original Alien. I even Enjoyed Aliens. Then it just all fall off for me.
What I'm really excited about, is exploring this new mythology about the "engineers" and what their world is like. What makes them tick?
Don't forget that Ridley has said his directors-cut could be up to 40min longer and could change things a great deal.
I also thought the "self sacrificing" method in which they create life (in the opening scene) was really interesting. I got the impression that it was on earth, but after reading some interviews, I realize that it could be any planet, creating potential for humans planted on worlds across the galaxy. This film has so much more under the surface than meets the eye. I can't wait to see it again and see what else they make on this storyline.

maytheforce

I had high expectations but I am truly disappointed. The movie did not seem to go anywhere and it did not make me care about the characters which, to me, is the real problem and no amount of stunning visuals could do anything about it. Ridley Scott as a director is really amazing but I think that this time the scenario was not strong enough. It lacked depth and empathy. I felt it was too superficial. Alien and Blade Runner are still to this day absolute masterpieces!

redskulllives

slapstick story, opening scene WTF??? hahhaa
also with the ending logo for Wailen corp with the 10/12/12 date, some release footage or what?????

HeWentAllGeorgeLucasonUs

The Prometheus Menace .
The Prometheus Wars will suck.
Maybe the Revenge of the Prometheus will be at least a bit better.

jacobcrim

I think I hyped myself up to much for the film, because the trailers were brilliant. It was by no means bad, I did enjoy it and it was entertaining. I also liked how nothing was spoon fed to the audience. Visually it was spectacular, Fassbender was amazing as advertised but it honestly felt "been here done that". To me it almost felt like an "Alien" reboot under the ruse of a prequel. So hopefully if they do make a part two it ties everything together, hopefully Scott does that before his "Blade Runner" sequel.

bozo connors

I loved it and hated it. I'm fairly certain the editor was, like, falling over drunk. Only way to explain some of the dialogue & inconsistencies.

That's a great find Ash Bishop. Thanks for the link.
Everyone should read that article as it gives great insight into the movie.

Lindelof sucks

If a movie requires additional reading of a disertation about it to make sense of poorly written story I would call it a failure.I am not talking about the themes of Prometheus.They are pretty conventional as far as the SF genre and nothing new,even cliched and clunky ,but certanly not groundbraking aswell but the story arc is just meh,the characters are cardboard cutouts and just plain stupid...it has very pretty visual but as far as groundbreaking and inteligent thought provoking themes...meh..I am very dissapointed..the whole ancient astronauts theory about human origins is just bleh and boring...imho..

I do agree Lindelof is a douche, I also believe that a piece of art that requires a manual is a bit rubbish. Some of the characters were incredibly daft, the one that tried to cuddle the assflower definitely.

Dominic A

The Movie is ENJOYABLE on its own merits . only the sci-fi / movie nerd needs or wants a dissertation to explain every little thing , and the reason why it's in the script .
Actually , all your questions seem to be answered just by reading all the reviews here . Seems like most of us " got it " . And feel they know how to improve it .
I can wait for a sequel . My question tho is : Does Noomi get 3 movies out of this like "Dragon Tattoo ".
Does Fassbender ? saw them both on "Charlie Rose" . they both half-joked about the chemistry between them , and said Ridley easily worked with them

I did enjoy it Domenic, it was great. As I said it was a good B-Movie, just with a blockbuster budget.
I have actually enjoyed reading people's theories and ideas about what did or didn't happen though, the only time there is this many comments on Firstshowing is usually on some BatNolan film, so it's good that people are talking about it. It shows the medium still breathes.

crystaltowers

"If a movie requires additional reading of a disertation about it to make sense of poorly written story I would call it a failure".
So by that logic, any film about which much literature has been written, is a failure?
There's no need to read anything about Prometheus to "make sense" of it at a basic level. But complex films always yield further insight, upon further analysis. If you prefer films that are so dumb they require no thought and no reading afterward, there are many, many films out there that will satisfy you.

touche

Well said... well said, indeed.

touche

Had you considered that, perhaps, not everyone needs additional reading... that some of us have actually some of the source material that the directors and writers have... some of us do enjoy reading, you know... Furthermore, reading this "disertation" material is generally there to enhance your understanding and experience and not meant to be the sole provider of logic to piece.

Not bad, but then again it's a shame to say after all the anticipation it's just that: "not bad". Definitely undeserving of all the hype and ultimately disconnected and unconvincing. The movie is indeed a mixture of highly enjoyable visuals, a gazillion unresolved questions, MAJOR plotholes, unlikable and hollow characters, a great cast that doesn't get half a chance to show its potential and a story that is completely uninspired and unoriginal. Neither a pop-corn guzzling summer blockbuster, nor a ponderous spectacle (eg. Space Oddysey). It could have been so much stronger should the script was tighter. I mostly blame that colossal phony Lindelof and his fetish for cheap mystery. I love obscurity and to be immersed in a universe that feels pre-existent, lived in, and not waiting for me to immediately figure it out or spoonfeed me with convenient answers. But in this case we're not talking "open to interpretation" but "so full of plotholes it made you cringe". That's neither entertaining nor gratifying.

Frank

scientist riding 4 wheelers around in 2089. The idiots have probes mapping the whole ship but they get lost. The whole ship goes to sleep at night and leaves then alone on a new planet trapped inside with dead bodies lying around. They found this planet two years away by 6 dots on cave walls.
So disappointing...

weezy1

Meredith is NOT a robot, simply because she can eat & drink and David can't...also, the ship in the original Alien was on LV426, not LV262, so we are led to believe another ship left 262, had a problem and crashed on 426, thus our Space Jockey and his blown out chest. I just hope that the sequel has Fassbender in it, should be interesting to see how Shaw survives!

Kasino007

Did anyone not read one article or watch one interview with Ridley Scott. One of the reasons they did so much press before Prometheus is because they wanted people to know.... THIS IS NOT A DIRECT PREQUEL TO ALIEN. It takes place in the same universe where Alien exist, but its not a prequel. It more like a Spinoff.

I thought PROMETHEUS was a very good film. I agree with Jeremy Kirk's review, here on FIRSTSHOWING that it seemed to have the potential to be an excellent film, but never achieved that greatness. I kept waiting and waiting but it never happened for me.
A few things that I noticed:
1) The "First" Engineer that spawned human life, that small container that held the reverse-engineering virus, looked a lot like a pomegranate, which is held as the fruit that cost Adam-Eve their stay in Eden, I know a lot of people think it was an apple, but many scholars now think it was a pomegranate, as they are much older.
2) It always irks me to see meal worms in a film, and while they did not take their place as fly larvae, ie maggots, in this film, how they would end up on the moon was strange. I know, suspend "your" disbelief.
3) Worms evolved very fast into the "proto-face hugger."
4) I wondered why the geologist character turned into that Frankenstein looking beast? Exposure to "ooze"? Why did it have that effect on humans? Was his exposure time, longer than Holloway, who did not look like he was developing lumps boils all over himself.
5) Charlize Theron looked incredibly beautiful. That scene in the beginning where she was doing push-ups? Amazing.
6) How did the first Xenomorph pictured on the Mural look like that? It has been revealed through previous films, they absorb the host's DNA to better themselves, ie ALIEN 3's "dog-Xenomorph". Did it bond with the Engineers?
7) The Computer Generated stuff looked stunningly good in the beginning and then tapered off into the "Proto-Alien" which looked awful.
8) Why did the "Ooze" baby look like a cephalopod? Unless it was begging that it bonded with some of the primordial human DNA, that did not make a lot of sense.
9) WTF was up with that flute?
10) Idris Elba was amazing. Scene Stealer.
"I am good at calculations."

Erikvlarson

My biggest question is when Shaw went and found out that Weyland was alive after giving herself a c-section, why did they not ask her why she was covered in blood and find out what had just happened to her? They did not care?

Dominic A

Yes only worried about getting his ass to the live Engineer .
Or maybe the comm was active in the pod room . Idris didn't ask any questions either . it's inconsequential to a stripped-to-bare-bones script

Guest

Sure it is.
Just does not make any sense.
Would'n you be a bit curious if someone came to you covered with blood?

Dominic A

It's not fair criticism . He didn't care about her neither did David btw. She had accomplished her purpose , to him . Only cared about David and barely his security . Actually only cares about meeting the Engineer and NOT dying . the coldness of a robot u might say .
It doesn't sense to you or me cause we're not Weyland with a single-minded trillion-$ focus . Give Ridley credit for writing him that way . He stayed true to the genre ; the mean rich tycoon antagonist always dies in the end ...

Alien Abduction.
I've been reading whole screeds of text about Prometheus and something occurred to me, maybe the Engineers abducted humans and tested out the bio-weapons on them?
Imagine if that turns up in the sequel, I want some money.

Dominic A

Hey , I've already commented plenty but now that i've actually seen it i got a better idea about other comments .
If you're whining about the plot holes and character development , why do you go see these sci-fi movies ??? They aren't written to get oscars ; They're book or comics ADAPTATIONS made because alot of people bought the books/comics . I'm sure there's a book version is out or coming ; the way to criticize is to compare it to that , or the other sequels /prequels in the series . I see a few people saying it's not as good as Alien/s , However I bet that , at the time , Alien was criticized for being too slow and plodding . And I know Aliens was criticized for the corny military characters /script in general .
Ease up on the analysis , suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the good stuff !! Like the visuals of both planets ; ! want so many stills of those for comp wallpaper they were awesome .
I will admit the Caesarian scene was unbelievable , in a bad way ; tho you guys gotta admit that it was pretty well foreshadowed . You knew it was gonna get used once Shaw showed her knowledge of it . As i said above it HAD to get used , or the female lead was going to die . And the bodies with no midsection made the DECISION to do it believable . yeah we all know she shouldn't be able to breathe well MUCH LESS walk or run after that . Look the other way and let that slide by ...
Could they have written more character development for the minor characters and engineers ? Not enough time for that . wait for the Director's Cut .
Are we spending all this time wondering why David gave Holloway the black goo,
what did David tell the Engineer to piss him off and if Theron's
character
was a robot or not? No on the 1st every android does something to facilitate an Alien popping out of somebody ; I like the answer that the engineer saw an android and was mad about humans playing at "Engineer " , cause it also explains the immediate lift-off for Earth - the bioweapon was already planned for us , and not executed , anyway ; she ACTED like she was most of the time - that's good enough for me .
The last scene shows you why the movie was made . Not the 1st alien on the planet , but the one with Engineer and evolved human DNA . Some sequel will have to explain the acid for blood and the silvery look to teeth and body ..

Hey Dominic, I know what your saying about scifi movies being stupid and unbelievable. That's fine, I've spent many evenings with a hangover watching the brutal constructions that are ScyFy Originals.
But films like the original Alien movie were to change the genre, to make it a little more like the writing you'd expect from reading a book.One of the better scifi films of recent years was Moon, which was a direct homage to the films created around that era.
I don't think Vickers was a robot mainly because she treated David like a butler, she may have acted like a machine though.
The alien wasn't the first of it's kind I don't reckon, because it's pictured on the wall in the mural. The acid for blood I always assumed was an evolutionary thing that was part of being a survival mechanism.
I like that it's now went past 200 comments. Maybe Lindelof isn't such a doughnut after all. And the cavernous plot holes just leave room for fans to fill in the gaps with their keyboards.

Dominic A

She treated David like a COMPETITOR he didn't exactly bow to her demands ; had to get thrown against the wall and she still was in the dark about a lot .
no it's not the 1st but it's the prototype for the creature WE know from Alien
If you consider Aliens , they didn't stay with your "good book writing " premise real long , huh
Because they made a movie entertaining to the masses ( to make more money , cause they had us hooked by then on that acid-dripping bitch ) not for us The Real Fan pining for more intelligent movies . Savor 'em when u get 'em .
It's not that they're stupid it's that horror and sci-fi isn't specifically written to get an Qscar ; don't get ur hopes up . It's escapist fantasy . Maybe we can hope for a movie like Alien ; but criticize movies in this genre on if they hit the high notes they're supposed to hit -scary creature , good special effects , great vistas , Hero / Female lead that survives in the end
For this series anyway ... No Star Trek movie's gonna win an Oscar but people love them for what they are cause they hit THEIR notes

Dominic A

As I said above , I'm sure there were critics of Alien , at the time . Slow , plodding , no background on any character , who can believe a creature like that exists , why did other characters act so dumb for trained military and scientists , etc ..
Ease up , people .

Prometheus is meh

I don't think you really understand what is a good SF story.
It's not mindless schlock with pretty pictures of space,spaceships and alien beings.It's about groundbreaking ideas.Prometheus shows us nothing new.
Read some SF books.

Dominic A

I got plenty of sci-fi books with groundbreaking ideas , and they're not going to win awards - or will the movie adaptations . The emphasis is on character development and the action as dictated by the plot ; didn't Prom. do that well enough ( for the stars anyway , as i noted above ). The intricases in the development of the story matters more in books ; if u tried to make an EXACT copy of a book into a movie it's be 4-5 hours long and nobody would see it . Example : Dune . great book ; the 1st movie got savaged cause u couldn't understand it if u hadn't read the book ; the director's cut 4-hr version is much better but u gotta buy the dvd or wade thru alotta commercials on TV
Not show anything new???? .THE PLANETS !! A smaller version of the Nostromo ; The Surgery-while-you-wait without full anesthetic : an earlier version of face-suckers ; The Engineers : their ship ; the idea of the mix of all 3 DNAs creating an early version of OUR Alien . and the fact that something close to our Alien was on the wall suggesting there were previous dust-ups spawning these versions ; the military-like female dies while the scientist female lives ; and THE most compelling android in the whole series , acted so well by Fassbinder
Unless the script and acting rise above the norm , IT IS mindless schlock and for some people , that 's the way they LIKE IT

BinaryChaos

@35f745bb335b9ea63e63bcf4cd8cbaf7:disqus
Don't play that game...This website is filled with opinions and theories if you want facts go follow Ridley Scott on twitter and get things from the horses mouth instead of being spoon fed with other peoples interpretations.
First off we are talking about a movie. The movie obviously does not make any mention of transferring Weylands conscious into an android. Another assumption you are throwing in...You and Chris started off your comments with assumptions with nothing to back it up. When I challenged your theories Chris ran off with a bruised ego seeing the movie multiple times and watched viral videos to support his conclusion. If he was a dedicated fan he would of had his facts straight before posting. Instead of strictly answering my question you guys decided to make personal attacks. This website isn't about questioning someones psyche. Grow up!
You reap what you sow. Blame yourselves...move on.
Why are you making reference to AvP? I've already said the Alien franchise is filled with inconsistency and Ridley Scott already said that his prequel is not a direct link to the sequels. From what I've noticed he is creating his own timeline.

Yug

It's basically Star Wars Ep. 1. A big waste of time, a movie that didn't need to be made. Nothing that happened in this movie was useful to understand the "Alien" universe, unless you really want to know more about Wayland Corp. I don't want a trilogy that will eventually get to a prequel. Just make the damn prequel and get on with it.
It wasn't scary, it wasn't suspenseful, it wasn't anything. Sorry Mr. Scott but try harder next time, please.

Small gripes aside (like Elba's accent, Pearce's laughably caked on make-up, the character reveal that wasn't really much of a reveal), the only thing that got me was the end. True, most of the film faltered between being overly ambiguous and ambitious, but while I liked the first ending I loathed the second ending (which felt like the studio wanted it there). If it had to be in at all would have been better after the credits.
But it was just another small bit that had it, and others like it, been trimmed out, Prometheus could have been a tighter film. Also, I kind of thought even Pearce and Theron's characters could have used some editing, if not been eliminated completely. Rapace was good but Fassbender was beyond brilliant, although that's probably not news to anyone now is it?:P
Finally, personally speaking I think it would have been more interesting if Theron was revealed as an android (kind of like both she and David were vying for a father's affection). It would have been a better reason to have her around in the first place. Still, I CAN'T wait to see this again!

So it appears there are at least 4+ of those dome structures, like the one they explored. What is their purpose? They must have had a sheep connected by tunnels to each one...Maybe more surviving Architects? The Stone Head room only had a small fraction of the vessels containing the black fluid, compared to the stock pile on the ship? Makes it seem as they were dropping this stuff off, almost like we did here fro decades with aging never gas war heads, etc...
Of course we don't the even know the true origin of the black goo, maybe these guys were disposing of something someone else made. What bugs me the most is that this so called advanced species let the goo get the better of them. Seems like that would have had the problem covered with a contingency plan of some sort.
If a sequel does happen & I hope it does, they need to flesh out just two things for me...The original purpose of the goo? And what's the beef the Engineers appear to have with mankind...

Would also like to point out, that if there are sequels that will lead up more closely to the original Alien, then many of the folks complaining about continuity should think about that...I mean does continuity fit when you only have part of the story...like trying to make sense of "A New Hope" back story if they only made Phantom Menace and not the other two...

Dominic A

Thank you for that

Sarah

This was a disappointment for me. The characters weren't developed, too many plot holes, and (other than the birth scene) just not enough excitement. Yawn.

I just read that the space Engineers were actually a race of 'super-jockeys', it's a crazy concept but they developed the xeno's for interplanetary races in which they rode the xeno's like horses.
There's an illustration I created below.

Hopefully, he eh. I think the guys are bit more laid back on the home planet. I just saw some pages from the French artbook that accompanies the film, it has some amazing work in it. Actually loads of stuff that wasn't used in the end. There's some great photos of a Fifield route that wasn't taken for some reason that looks menacing.
I think I've been spending way too much time in Prometheus forums. Most excited I've got about a movie in ages though.

Isildur_of_Numenor

Found the photos with Fifield... damn he looks fucked up. Nice head. Also I've seen those images with the old engineer (?), that would've been cool to see in the movie. And I'm dying to see more of that "mother ship" from the beginning. Maybe in the eventual sequel.
"I think I've been spending way too much time in Prometheus forums. Most excited I've got about a movie in ages though." Tell me about it... I really need to stop. I have some exams coming my way and what do I do? Yep... Prometheus stuff.

filmreview

I expected so much more from this movie based on all the hype. The story development was very bad, lots of gaps. The character development was overlooked as well. It seemed to me the whole point of the movie was get to the blood and gore. Sorry to see that such a well known director would allow such rubbish to be released. I guess it is all for the money.

Andrew

I enjoyed this movie immensely, while it didn't explain everything, it created its own series. There are a few plotholes but nothing really important needed to be explained for the Alien series. David was a fantastic character. I was hoping more people were going to live, but at least no cats were in this one. They needed to explain what the black stuff was. And why David contaminated Charlie's drink. But everything in this movie doesn't need to be explained, that's why suspense and your imagination exist. Hoping for a sequel because it opened it up to be its own series.
Do not expect this to be anything like Alien, this is a standalone film from the Alien series.

mrjohnqpublic

The shoe drops in the last act. Up until then, I was surprised because it was better than I expected ... but in the last 15 minutes it turns into a standard no brainer "let's wrap it all up so we can go home" story.
All build-up, and an ultra-weak ending.
They would have to pull off the greatest sequel of all time to justify the dud climax that Prometheus was. R.I.P.

My suggested changes to make this a better movie?
- Make the scientists more 'scientific'. I'm sure there were plenty of possibilities to have more 'professional' scientists be confronted with alien's predecessors. A good example of a nasty scientist was Max Eilerson in Crusade, the Bab-5 spinoff. He's useful, but a pain, so no-one would regret seeing him biting the dust. And don't let a biologist be scared of an alien dead body. It's ridiculous.
- Give the scientists a reason to go back to the ship : for instance investigate the decapitated body, before they find how to open the door. Add a line to the scientists leaving the party back to the ship, where one hands over his navigation unit saying he knows the way. If he gets infected along the way back, he could get disoriented and both would not make it to the ship, which would make a lot more sense.
- Find an alternative to the zombie archeologist to have the crew wiped out. Having Holoway do it might have made a lot more sense. It would be nice to have him cease Elisabeth and be killed just when he was going to give her the final blow.
- Tentacles are fifties, sixties and seventies. They could have found something better than Cthulhu being Alien's granddad. I did like the fight with the engineer and the cephalopod though. Pretty strong bastard he was.
- Last but not least, I would have had Vickers survive. She's an interesting Character, and it could be a challenging duo in a sequel.

paulbeat@fastmail.fm

Very perplexing. On one hand an amazing piece of film making. On the other, trite dialogue, poor characterization and full of holes ....BUT...it's enthralling nevertheless. Visually, it's a masterpiece with the 3D merely enhancing the movie rather than dominating it. There are lots of satisfying references to other Sci Classics not to mention Alien itself. For me there was enough of the Alien universe to keep any fan of the original movie happy. Yes I so wanted it to be more like the darker more adult Alien but that's Hollywood for you - full of dumb brains obsessed with audience demographics. I really hope there'll be a part two and that Scott directs it - with a bit more intelligence this time! 6/10.

I loved it beyond words. There is one thing, however, which I have interpreted differntly than others. I don't believe the humanoid at the beginning of the film was seeding the Earth as many. I believe he is actually the hero of the story. He infected his self with the biological weapon which was intended for us 2000 years ago and it subsequently caused the deaths of everyone at the base as seen in the holographs. He was not on Earth.

I loved it beyond words. There is one thing, however, which I have interpreted differently than others. I don't believe the humanoid at the beginning of the film was seeding the Earth as many seem to. I believe he is actually the hero of the story. He infected his self with the biological weapon which was intended for us 2000 years ago and it subsequently caused the deaths of everyone at the base as seen in the holographs. He was not on Earth.

Pandyman

Is it just me or is it just Alien with a different name and different aliens.It has all the same feel of Alien, Arrive on a strange planet / moon discover a ship. Fight aliens cyborg turns bad accomplishing the wills of the company. female lead escapes and flies away.

mydogisdead

After the alien abortion scene it went downhill, I mean who thought that grab tool looked like a Bear claw machine...

T8rtot89

It kind of is a prequel though.. Without noomis character, c-sectioning the alien lifeform out of her. And then that alien evolves and later deposits a new alien inside the space jockey at the end of the film. And finally we see a glimpse of similarity when the final alien bursts out of the jockys chest. Without all that having happened, there wouldn't be an alien to stalk and kill ripleys crew on Nostromo. Bow down to the real queen. Thanks to Noomi rapace we have an alien

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Noomi Rapace and the actor who played her boyfriend were simply atrocious..